Josh D. Compton
Professional Writing, 2012
In my professional writing classes,
I worked on actual projects with
deliverables similar to what you’d
expect from a real job scenario. At
the CE, it was a similar story: I was
tasked with the usability testing
and crafting the experience of
actual products—not hypothetical
projects or speculative papers—
while simultaneously working on the
development for these apps.
I want to emphasize that last
point: I was both designing the
experience behind and building
these apps and sites. There aren’t
many places—anywhere—that afford
students the opportunity to work
Josh D. Compton
in two such intimately related (but
BA – Professional Writing, 2012
conventionally separate) arenas.
UX Developer/UX Designer,
The best advice I can give to current
Primary Developer
Internap/Tiny Couch
New York, New York
students is to seek out opportunities
where you’re building something.
Don’t just learn the theory, build
I had a unique experience learning
stuff. Get your hands dirty. While
about the web through the lens of
you’re building, read everything you
my professional writing coursework
can about the industry. And after
and working with the Creativity
you’ve read some, write about it.
Exploratory (CE).
It doesn’t have to be much, but if
I do front-end development and
user experience at an ISP called
Internap. I’m also one-third of a
small design firm called Tiny Couch,
doing UX and development for small
businesses and startups.
6
reading is like feeding your brain,
writing is exercise. You need both
to keep your mind fit.